1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a protector for preventing legs and feet of a person in a vehicle in collision.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Protectors of various constructions have been proposed to prevent a person in a vehicle from being hurt by absorbing the kinetic energy to which legs and feet of the person are subjected, when the vehicle collided. In one example, as shown in FIG. 1, panels 1 of steel plates are curved and laminated and the plates are provided with a pad 2 adhered to a surface of the panel extending and facing to a seat of a vehicle. This assembly is secured to an inside of a passenger compartment of the vehicle by means of brackets 10 and 12 secured to the vehicle body so as to absorb kinetic energy in the legs and feet of the person when the vehicle collided by plastic deformations of the panels.
With this arrangement, however, the deformations or collapsing strokes of the panel for absorbing the energy are depending upon thicknesses of the panels. When the panels are thin for the purpose of reducing the weight of the protector, the deformations or strokes of the panels become large which made difficult the arrangement of other parts located in the vehicle compartment. On the other hand, when the panels are so constructed as to make small their deformations or strokes in order to obviate the above difficulty, thick panels are needed, so that a light weight protector cannot be obtained.
Other protectors have been proposed, one of which includes a panel formed with a plurality of depressions arranged side by side or with a plurality of depressions and a plurality of through-apertures alternately arranged. With this arrangement, however, the panels do not exhibit adequate energy absorption due to comparatively large plastic deformations by small forces, although they exhibit particular energy absorption characteristics.